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7.20.2007

Enjoy Your Vacation, Carpenter

Much to the St. Louis Cardinals' dismay, injured ace Chris Carpenter has elected to undergo Tommy John surgery this week, keeping him away from the game into a good chunk of next season.

The 2005 Cy Young winner and 2006 World Series anchor is expected to have the right-elbow ligament replacement procedure early next week.

Carpenter's last start came in the season opener, where he allowed five New York Mets runs in six innings before landing on the disabled list April 2nd. He then had arthroscopic elbow surgery to remove bone spurs in early May, but the elbow began feeling stiff and swollen following a rehab start in the minors earlier this month.

Without left-handers Mark Mulder and Todd Wellemeyer and righty Josh Kinney - all on the DL - St. Louis starters are 25-44 through the first 92 games of this season.